News flash! Like all good Republicans these days, Jim Powers, chairman of the Butler County Republican Committee, finds a left-wing media conspiracy and someone else to blame for the recent one-sided reaction to the first presidential debate.

Powers, as shown by his Oct. 5 letter to the editor, wants help understanding how the Butler Eagle selected the 15 reader comments published on Oct. 1.

The Eagle did a nice job explaining how the letters were selected and, in the interest of "No Republicans Left Behind," I'll explain it again. The Eagle published all 15 of the responses received.

Powers would have us believe that the reaction published in the Eagle was somehow flawed because the president's performance was panned. What does he think?

The president was presidential - not. The public was wowed by W's unwavering certitude in the face of his flawed policies - not exactly. The Eagle's poll was markedly different from the findings of the national polls - hardly.

How dare the Eagle, which asked readers to submit reactions before 7 a.m. the next morning, publish all the reactions it got! Surely the Eagle should've waited for all those Republicans to pick themselves off the floor. They were shocked that John Kerry didn't cower before the presidential glower or wilt when the president repeated the same old tired lines over and over again.

Maybe this was a case where country club Republicans, used to sleeping in, were outhustled by hard-working Democrats, but more likely it was a case where those who cared enough to respond actually thought Kerry won the debate.

If Powers wants to blame someone for his candidate's poor showing in the Eagle's post-election analysis, he should blame his candidate and the Republicans (like himself and his president), who figure that they're entitled to a free ride, and the only news they want to hear is good news (truth be damned).

Powers should quit blaming others because he didn't contribute to his own piece. Or, maybe, he should take deadlines a bit more seriously.